Re-engineering bacteria into microscopic drug factories and examining factors related to cancer in children are just two of The University of Western Australia's projects to attract State Government funding.

Chief Justice Wayne Martin's breakfast address - ‘Improving corporate governance in the public sector: where judges fear to tread' - will launch a half-day seminar hosted by the Trade, Migration and Development Research Centre of UWA Business School and the Institute of Public Administration Australia (WA Division) on Tuesday, 24 June.

The challenge facing Australia in dealing with an expected 31 per cent increase in new cancer cases between 2001 and 2011 has earned a sixth-year medical student at The University of Western Australia first prize in a national essay competition run by Cancer Council Australia.

At certain times of the week, visitors to a novel exhibition at The University of Western Australia's Cullity Gallery in the School of Architecture and Fine Arts would be excused for thinking they are witnessing art theft in action.

One of The University of Western Australia's alumni and a pioneer woman lawyer, Leah Jane Cohen, whose gift of almost $3 million to her alma mater will be celebrated today, started her habit of giving to the University at a young age.

The public focus on genetics and genetic research has detracted from the important role of social factors in determining health, argues Professor Ichiro Kawachi, Professor of Social Epidemiology and the Director of the Harvard Center for Society and Health.

A researcher from The University of Western Australia was part of a team who discovered the fossilised remains of the planet's oldest mother - a now extinct 25cm long placoderm fish in the process of giving birth, with the 6cm embryo and umbilical cord intact.

Resource economics, using mathematical models and numbers to investigate farming and environmental problems, could provide a simple procedure for summarising multiple physical, biochemical and biological parameters into a single soil quality index.

West Australian Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall has been elected into the prestigious US National Academy of Sciences, an institution that was signed into being by US President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 at the height of the Civil War.

The University of Western Australia's strong focus on petroleum geoscience has been enhanced with the donation of state-of-the-art computer software that is used by the petroleum industry during exploration and production of oil and gas.

A science/law student from The University of Western Australia will be one of the first competitors outside the United States to take up the international challenge to be named a BioGENEius and win US$10,000.